David Hakak, who incriminate 14 members of alleged crime organization in 2008, was not covered by witness protection.

A 42-year-old man was shot and killed in his car from close range Wednesday
night in Jaffa.

The victim, identified as David Hakak, was a former
state’s witness.

After he was shot, Hakak managed to drive a little
further, before his car mounted a concrete slab and ground to a stop. Magen
David Adom paramedics who arrived at the scene initiated CPR but were unable to
resuscitate the victim, and pronounced him dead. Tel Aviv police arrived on the
scene and launched a homicide investigation, marking bullet casings with yellow
flags and gathering forensic evidence.

In 2008, Hakak turned state’s
witness and incriminated 14 members of an alleged crime organization over
extensive gambling activities. Homicide detectives are examining the possibility
that the shooting could be linked to Hakak’s testimony, a Tel Aviv police source
said, though other directions are being checked as well.

Hakak did not
receive police protection and was not moved into hiding, as his testimony came
before the launch of the witness protection program.

Even before the
program came into being, police had offered some protection to witnesses under
threat by placing patrol cars and officer near their homes. It remains unclear
how threatened Hakak was before the shooting.

An attorney for one of the
central figures convicted on the basis of Hakak’s testimony said that the
murdered man was involved in many feuds, and that his client had no connection
whatsoever to Wednesday night’s shooting.

Two criminals turned police
informers were murdered in 2006.

The informers, one of whom has been
named as Eyal Salhov, and a second informer whose name is still being withheld,
were shot dead in the same year, and no suspects have been arrested for the
slayings to date.